Six years before he made national headlines, Gov. Rick Scott found himself being purged from voter rolls after local election officials thought he was dead.

Collier County election officials on Thursday confirmed that the governor was required to vote with a provisional ballot for the 2006 primary and general election after county officials mistook him for Richard E. Scott, who died in January 2006 and had the exact same birthday -- 12/1/1952 -- as Florida's 45th governor.

Election officials said the governor was required to vote provisionally because local election officials had received a Social Security Death Index Death Record showing that Richard E. Scott died Jan. 27, 2006.

The governor, whose full name is Richard Lynn Scott, recounted his voting difficulties in radio interviews on Thursday as the state tangles with the federal government over just that – how likely is it that elections officials might make a mistake and purge the wrong person from the voter rolls?

An election official noted, however, that despite the initial mistake, both of the governor's votes were counted.

"I've been here for more than seven years and it’s the first time I am aware of somebody who was removed for being deceased and it was a mistake," said Tim Durham, Collier County deputy election supervisor. "It was the exact same name, Florida resident, identical date of birth."

Scott mentioned his brief, encounter with the state's provisional ballots during an interview with Preston Scott on WFLA Radio in Tallahassee Thursday morning.

"I had to vote provisionally because they said I'd passed away," Scott said. "So I said, 'I'm here, here's my driver's license, I'm really alive.' And so they allowed me to vote provisionally. And then they went back and checked and said I was alive."

Scott later repeated a version of the story in an interview with a Tampa station.

The revelation couldn't have come at a more opportune time for Scott, who is battling with federal officials over the state's effort to purge ineligible voters from Florida rolls.

Critics have said Scott's efforts would disenfranchise some eligible voters mistakenly included in the list of those not allowed to cast ballots. But Durham said since Scott's provisional votes were counted in 2006 - under a system set up following the 2000 recount to allow contested ballots to be cast and counted - it proves the system protects legitimate voters.

Scott spokesman Lane Wright said Thursday that the governor's personal vignette bolsters his contention that the push to purge the voting rolls would not prevent eligible voters from casting ballots.

"If there is any error, it is not going to prevent someone from voting," Wright said Thursday.

Over the past several weeks, Scott has been at the center of the storm as state and federal agencies battle over a Scott-backed attempt to purge ineligible voters from the rolls. The Florida Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of Justice have traded lawsuits over the issue.

"The system is set up so that people can vote," Wright said.

----------------------------------------------Scott Uses Own Story to Illustrate Legitimacy of Voter Purgeby Mike Vasilinda

Tallahassee, FL -- June 14, 2012 --

Governor Rick Scott begins most mornings with a calls to talk radio shows. Thursday, he was defending his efforts to remove potential non citizens from the voter rolls, when he dropped this story about when he went to vote in 2006.

“They said I had passed away,” Scott said. “I said, here’s my drivers license, I’m here, I’m really alive. So they allowed me to vote provisionally, and then they went back and checked and saw actually I was alive.”

It was Florida’s Secretary of State using another agency’s database that told the Supervisor of Elections in Naples that Rick Scott was dead.

The Secretary of State sent information to Collier County that showed Richard E. Scott, born 12/1/1952, had died in January ‘06. But the Governor’s middle initial is ‘L”.

Collier County Deputy Elections Supervisor Tim Durham says it is the only time he has seen such a mistake.

“Very unusual set of circumstances,” Durham said. “The other Rick Scott has a different middle initial, he was also a Florida resident, with the exact same date of birth.”

Scott used the story to illustrate his point that voters who are eligible will indeed be able to cast a vote and have it counted, but the American Civil Liberties Unions says there is another lesson to be learned.

“What happened to him shows what is wrong about using inaccurate data to throw people off the voting rolls,” Howard Simon of the Florida ACLU said.

The Secretary of State’s office says it now no longer relies on the Department of Health database.

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